Sustainability and occupational health Flashcards
What is sustainability?
able to continue over a period of time
What are features of global sustainability?
- Material inequality
- Population and consumption
- Resource depletion
- Climate change
- Loss of biodiversity
- Crisis in healthcare
What threats does global warming pose to health?
- Natural disasters
- High pollution levels
- Food shortages
- Environmental mass migration
- Agriculture and food production
What actions can be undertaken to combat global warming and health?
- Increase use of renewable energy resources (e.g. natural energy resources)
- Modify human behaviour (e.g. being more active and using less cars)
- Move back to plant based diet
- Educate on carbon literacy and numeracy
- Promote patient resilience
- Teach healthcare students that we are part of a wider ecological system (not only human anatomical system)
What actions can the NHS take to fight global warming?
- Reduce material waste e.g. paper, sharps, drugs, packaging
- Transport
- Use of technology
- Implement self -management of health e.g. diet and exercise
- Energy saving
What are 2 types of sustainability in the NHS?
- Sustainability in relation to low carbon clinical care and environment (environmental sustainability)
- Sustainability to continue over time
How can the NHS reduce carbon emissions/give low carbon clinical care?
- Substitute harmful chemicals with safer alternatives (reduce and safely dispose waste)
- Use energy efficiently and switch to renewable energy (reduce water consumption)
- Improve travel strategies
- Purchase and serve sustainably grown food
- Safely manage and dispose of pharmaceuticals
- Adopt greener building design and construction; purchase safer and more sustainable products
What are benefits of low carbon care?
- Prevents conditions
- Gives greater responsibility to patients managing their own health
- Leaner in serving design and delivery
- Uses lowest carbon technologies
What is the WHO definition of health word for word?
state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease.
What is resilience?
ability to quickly return to a previous good condition
What is sustainability?
ability to continue over a period of time
What are positive factors that contribute to a sustainable career in medicine?
- Job security
- Financial security
- Stable terms and conditions
- Respect for professionalism and knowledge
- Appreciation for being in the role of a doctor and helping others
- Working with a team over time
- Ability to develop knowledge and interests
- Ability to fit work around interests and lifestyle choices
What challenges may be faced in a medical career?
- Considerable and rapid workload e.g. 10 minute appointments
- Time management
- Increasingly complex care over time (aging population with many co-morbidities)
- Relentless arrival of mail and blood results and having enough time to action them/ process them
- Care vs cure (longterm conditions)
- Running a business over time (potentially)
- Need to ensure team is harmonious and effective and can adapt to change
What are features of the fit note?
- Facilitates early discussion about returning to work and rehabilitation
- Includes items of consideration for employers when signing a patient’s return to work
- Can only be completed by a doctor
- Not binding on the employer and doesn’t affect statutory sick pay
- Required if patient has been off for more than 7 consecutive days (including non-working days)
What are roles of occupational health?
- Support and help people stay at work and live full and healthy lives
- Prevent work related ill health
- Provide specialist rehabilitation advice
- Provide independent, impartial advice to employers and employees on effects of work on health and effects of health on work
